MARION— WWGH-LP FM 107.1, under the direction of Scott Spears, has 20 days to respond to questions posed by the FCC or face loss of its right to broadcast, thereby putting Spears out of business.

Spears, the host of Scott Spears Now, features talk radio with local leaders who participate in interviews and sponsor radio programs hosted by local entities like Linda Sims, the late Charlie Evers, and Martha Douce, among others.

Spears’ live call-in guests have included aging and b-list celebrities like the Amazing Kreskin, Ed Asner, and Gallager.

In more recent years, he has interviewed Phil Donahue and Geraldo Rivera from Fox News.

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin is giving WWGH FM 20 days to turn over documents and answer questions posed by the Enforcement Bureau, as well as hire a new attorney, or else face the loss of its license.

The Marion Education Exchange is fighting to hold onto WWGH-LP Marion, OH (107.1) after it allegedly committed multiple rule and regulation violations, including what the FCC believes were intentionally misleading statements submitted by the LPFM.

As part of the trial-like discovery process, the Enforcement Bureau presented a series of questions to the Marion Education Exchange in April. Responses were due May 13, but the deadline came and went without a response.

When it was hit with a motion to compel last month, the LPFM’s attorney George Wolfe instead responded that he planned to quit the case.

In her order, Halprin relieved Wolfe of his duties but set the clock in motion for Marion Education Exchange to find his replacement and turn over the documents that are now nearly a month past due.

Crawford County Now reached out to Scott Spears, who issued the following statement about the ongoing investigation:

“I am not a member of the board, just the program director.

This report by the FCC is being sent to media outlets by the person who made the original complaint, who operated another radio station in Marion, and who has admitted in emails to the FCC that his goal is not to see us in compliance, its to see us taken off the air.

In regard to having a deceased person on the board. The person was put on the board in 2014, they died unexpectedly on vacation in November of 2016, The board decided not to fill that position and go to a four person board. The FCC was asked how to handle this in January of 2017. The FCC said if the change did not effect a voting quorum, and we were not filling that spot with anyone new that nothing needed to be done, and thats what we did.

The lawyer we had consulted on this case was recieving all of our correspondence with the FCC. We were not. He was emailing these correspondence to us. We never got the emails, and nobody from his office ever called to see why we were not answering the emails. Because of not getting his emails and recieving no calls we were not even aware he resigned as our lawyer.

We plan to seek new legal council because of these issues and respond to the FCC before June 20

LPFM stations do not make thousands of dollars. To retrain a lawyer for an issue like this could bankrupt a station. If someone would like to represent us pro bono in a case I am sure we would win we would love to hear from them. We live in a world of podcasts and streaming services which we are on. We will not be going anywhere regardless of what happens much to the sadness im sure of the person who continues to harrass us on social media, and to other organizations and media outlets.

I have been dealing with a health issue most of this year, and this seems so small. Its not even remotely whats important in life when you are going through a health issue, or watching what is going on in the world.”

Crawford County Now will continue to cover this developing story.